NEWS & EVENTS

The inaugural ceremony was graced by the Hon'ble Director, Department of Agriculture Deputy Country Director of WFP, Chief Executive Officer of Toshiniwal Private Industries, India along with the Chief Executive Officer of FCBL and other officials of FCBL, at Phuentsholing on October 29. Rice fortification is the addition of important micronutrients such as vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B6, B9, B12, iron, and zinc to regular rice to enhance its nutritional value. Nutritional deficiency had been noticed in some of the schools in Bhutan and the supply of fortified rice to schools with the government's feeding programme began in 2017. Initially, fortified rice was imported but today only fortified kernels are imported. Setting up a fortification plant is a step forward to support and facilitate the school feeding programme with fortified rice. It is a key step to unlocking the nutritional issue for our school-going children. The plant can produce 5MT of fortified rice per hour. The fortified rice is distributed to 516 schools across the country and approximately 6490 MT of fortified rice is supplied annually. The machinery in the plant was fabricated and installed by Toshniwal Industries Private Limited, India and the project was funded jointly by the World Food Programme (WFP), the Department of Agriculture (DoA), and the Food Corporation of Bhutan Limited (FCBL). The plant incurred a total cost of Nu. 14.55 million.